Garrison receives new police contract

The City of Garrison will have a new police contract as of 2011 that should help out with tightening budgets.
McLean County Commissioners approved a contract that matched Washburn’s at their regular April 19 meeting after meeting with Garrison City Council members.
Garrison officials, including Chad Rensch, Chad Betz and Steve Hasenwinkel, were looking for a change in the contract now that there are fewer deputies, and everyone seemed in agreement that the change would be a better option for Garrison.
The matching contract comes to a total of $92,867.65 for a coverage of about three-quarter time with five deputies starting in 2011. But the time that someone isn’t on duty, deputies are on call, Sheriff Don Charging said. The new contract is a drop from the $111,441 that it was going to cost for full-time coverage.
Commissioner Ron Krebsbach asked the Garrison officials if they thought that the coverage as is was sufficient. They seemed to think that things were staying pretty quiet around Garrison. Charging said that they have been doing a good job in Garrison, citing that it used to have the majority of the calls but now Washburn has double the amount of calls for service as Garrison, a complete reversal from years ago.
“I’m gonna be honest with you there hasn’t been much activity,” Charging said. “I’ve got one of my most aggressive guys out there and he says it’s pretty quiet.”
Krebsbach didn’t think it was that quiet. He cited that it’s not uncommon for the windows to shake and at times it’s difficult to hear the person next to you when some of the loud vehicles drive by.